Televangelist Pat Robertson broke out a prayer that sounded more like a wizard’s spell as he attempted to block the approach of Hurricane Florence.

The massive storm is on a path to strike the Carolinas later this week, prompting mass evacuations in coastal areas.

Speaking in Virginia, home of his Christian Broadcasting Network and in the potential path of the storm, Robertson cited a Bible passage in which Jesus commanded the wind and water on the Sea of Galilee to “be still.”

Then the preacher said he and his followers could accomplish the same “if we are together with one accord.”

In a clip posted online by Right Wing Watch, he asked followers to “put a hand out toward the Atlantic” and repeat an incantation.

“In the name of Jesus, you Hurricane Florence, we speak to you in the name of Jesus, and we command the storm to cease its forward motion and go harmlessly into the Atlantic. Go up north away from land and veer off in the name of Jesus. We declare in the name of the lord that you shall go no farther, you shall do no damage in this area.”

In a report issued earlier this month, the government's chief watchdog found that the Federal Emergency Management Agency had been overwhelmed by a series of devastating hurricanes and other disasters in 2017. The Government Accountability Office said the agency had failed to adequately house disaster victims, distribute financial assistance in a timely fashion or do enough to prevent fraud.

In Puerto Rico, where the estimated death toll from Hurricane Maria has ranged as low as 64 and as high as 5,000, the accountability office said the agency's poor response was compounded by a failure to deploy enough qualified staff.

"Puerto Rico was an incredible unsung success," Trump said Tuesday.

This time -- as Florence and a series of other storms barrel toward the U.S. -- FEMA says it's prepared, even as the agency defends its 2017 response. Florence is forecast to hit the Carolinas later this week.

I'm confident the response in 2017 was good and I'm confident this response will be good," FEMA Associate Administrator Jeff Byard told reporters during a briefing earlier on Tuesday. "This is not going to be a storm we recover from in days. We are planning for devastation."

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